Life in Victoria

It's Matt in Victoria

Shelly Is A Cute Puppy That I Know

Tebowing In Tofino

These photos chronicle my brother's adventures in Tofino as an artistic and existential expression of what has come to be known as Tebowing.

Snow Day In Victoria!!!

Alissa's school shut down

Matt shoveled snow all day.... yey...

It's our very first snow day!

Qinque Terre: Beaching It On the Med

Matthew was reluctant to part from Lucca and wanted to stay another day but Alissa was eager to get to the Mediterranean Sea as she was told that hiking along the Qinque Terre was the best, most romantic thing you could do in Italy. We were also told we would never be able to find a room in any of these five small secluded cliff fishing villages in peek season, and this was confirmed by our hotel receptionist in Lucca after trying unsuccessfully for an hour to book us a room. In the end he told us that, that we could be sleeping on the beach without a room. He said our best chance would be to go to the largest of the five villages, Monterosso al Mare, and see if anyone pulled out from their reservation last minute. And so we took a risk...

The trip to Qinque Terre was long and required three train transfers. The long day of travel was worth it the second the older train, which effortlessly hugged the rocky cliff face and peek-a-booed through tunnels, gave us our first breathtaking view of the emerald waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Just as we laid our first glace on the water, it started to rain.

When we arrived at the train station in Monterosso, the last stop of the five cliff villages, the rain was steady and getting heavier. Alissa had a feeling about where to go to try to find a room and it paid off. We nailed one down the first place we tried, and took it on the spot. Latter that night we would spot a group of tourists that weren't so lucky and had to spend the night under the train overpass.

We arrived late afternoon and spent the rest of the day marveling at the beauty of the sea- even on a dreary day it was beautiful. Wondering through town we picked up some local meats, cheese, and, of course, wine- a red DOC Colli di Luni called AUXO LVNE. The red DOC wine from the region is spicy and flavourful and cheap.

The rain stopped, so that we could enjoy a romantic night eating an assorted platter of the famous local sardines (salted, pickled, lemon, and smoked) and just a few more glasses of wine- this time very local Cinque Terre DOC, a white that is very light, citric, and fruity and paired wonderfully with all that fish.

The next day we spent all day at the beach.

Lucca: Partying and Picnicking Within Renascence Walls

We had a few sources strongly recommend that we spend a good few days in Lucca. When we asked why Lucca was their favourite place in Italy they said, "There's no big tourist attraction in Lucca, the walled city center, its people, and their way of life is the attraction."

One thing that you just must do in Lucca is get horribly lost in the old town center. We had no problems with that and within entering the old, narrow labyrinth that is old walled in Lucca we found ourselves hopelessly going in circles trying to find our bed and breakfast down roads that only made sense a thousand years ago.

Another thing you must know about Lucca is that the locals are unmistakably friendly and fun loving. In fact the only reason we found our guesthouse was completely by coincidence. A very old Italian man stopped to chat and after a wonderful conversation about the city we found out that he just happened to live in the same old, weather worn palace where our bed and breakfast was to be located. The place we stayed at called La Magnolia B & B and was the most interesting of the places we stayed in Italy- a bed and breakfast in an old, almost falling apart, Renascence era place- fairly cheap, very romantic, and incredibly Italian.

The locals in Lucca love to party- we found that out that first night when we went to eat in the main town square of Piazza Anfiteatro. The party pumping, bar/restaurant with a DJ spinning danceables outside in the old square was served by the local police after about an hour or two of dancing in the old Piazza. Fun time.

The we slept well that night and the next day we were eager to explore the city. We devised a brilliant plan of going to the local deli- picking up some of the local cured meats and cheeses, going to a bakery- picking up some of the local breads, going to a grocery store (or wine shop- if the grocery store was not an option or simply had a poor selection)- and picking up a local wine. Brilliant, delicious, romantic, and very cost effective! We would do this almost everyday from now until the end of our trip but our first full out experience was here in Lucca.

We packed up these supplies and simply walked on top the completely in tacked mura (ancient city walls) and walked around the grassy cannon-ball-proof hundred year old walls until we found the perfect spot for a picnic. The view was beautiful, the man at the deli paired the local creamy sheep cheese marvellously with the ultra-sweet famous local bread called buccellato. We both agreed- this was the best bread we had tried in our young lives- it was sweet with raisins and fennel... so good and matched again so perfectly with the light bodied, somewhat fruitier, Lucchesi wine we had help selecting. MMMmmm....

We spent most of the day on that wall just taking it in. After we made our way back into town, we admired another Pisa Romanesque style church, San Michele in Furo, which just happened to be visible from the window of our new bed at the nothing too special Puccini Hotel. There is a old strange looking copper-green Archangel Michael that locals claim actually flaps its wings during special occasions atop this, once Roman Arena, now cool looking Catholic Church. Guess our visit to the city wasn't that special to Michael? Haha..

That night we stumbled upon a Ben Harper show and realized that we had just missed one of our favourite singers by a few days, Amy Winehouse. We were talking of tracking her down on her tour of Italy. A few days later we would find out that she had died- so sad! We had unsuspectingly arrived during the Lucca Summer Festival- perhaps a reason for the fun loving feel of this city.

Instead of buying $50 tickets to the show we just ate at a restaurant nearby and enjoyed listening to it for free. The sight of locals dancing in the street while we ate local specialties such as Lucca's preferred pasta, tordelli (a local pasta similar to tortellini), with wild boar meat sauce and another type of noodle pasta with white truffles- of course we tried the famous local wine, Colline Lucchesi. The night couldn't have been more fun!

We love Lucca!

Pisa: Graffiti and Pisa Romanesque Architectural Style

From Florence we decided to day trip Pisa. It was the only day trip we took during our escapade through Italy. Although we day tripped Pisa, I think we still did it up pretty good- forgoing the quick bus ride to the leaning tower and going with the walk through town instead.

The first thing we really wanted to see was Keith Haring's last public work, Tottomondo, a wall of his famous graffiti art. Kieth Haring has be a curiosity of Matt's since seeing his work grace the cover of the Very Special Christmas Albums. It was fun to strike a pose in front of this funky wall of art.

We then made our way past old buildings, worn churches, and famous colleges. Alissa took a momment to once again pose infront of some student graffiti which this college town is apparently notorious for. We didn't even make it to the leaning tower before stopping at Panetteria Antiche Tradizioni, an old school Italian restaurant and bakery. We we in need of a few cold Peroni's on this hot day which were followed up with a cutting board of local cured meats and cheeses. MMMmmmm.... When we left we had a lot of food and more than enough drink in us.

Making our way to the leaning tower, we did the "pushing the tower back" pose. Then found us a chill spot on the tidy golf green lawn and just admired the unique Pisa Romanesque style of the Cathedral, Baptistery, and famous crooked tower. It is amazing how all those little pillars make these big buildings look so fragile and cute.